Luminato is upon us, fair citizens. If you're wondering what to do, what to see, or what's Luminato?, Torontoist is here to play festival guide. We've randomly drawn carefully chosen ten must-not-miss events: one for each day of the city's massive annual "arts and creativity" smorgasbord, which runs from June 6–15. Our staff's picks are after the jump.......

The best things in life, everyone knows, aren't free. The best things in life are things other people have to pay for, and you get for free. Like the 1,000 bottles of beer at the latest of Toronto's legendary Vice parties, if you were early or lucky or special enough to get into the Deleon White Gallery on Friday night. Or, say, the three hundred Microsoft Zunes given to young "influencers" (bloggers, DJs, other......

Photo by Stephanie Fysh from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. All along Queen Street West, consciously kitschy cuckoo clocks are ticking down to tomorrow's grand opening of Toronto's sophomore Urban Outfitters. Just west of Spadina, but still east of cool, the kaleidoscopic shop takes up residence on the far end of what is fast becoming the strip mall stretch of Queen. Little problem: that block, and the accompanying teenage wasteland demographic, has been ruled by......

Hey there, arty partygoers. Where will you be this Thursday, May 22? At the Powerplant's annual fundraiser, Powerball 10: Decadence (231 Queens Quay West), or Gallery TPW's D-List Ball at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West)? One party is for fashionable media yuppies and their wealthy aunties, the other is for Queen West art scenesters. One is for people who collect art to diversify their investment portfolios, the other is for people whose......

Photos by Marissa Neave. Fashion in Toronto (or any fast, young city) is ostensibly about being scene—but for [FAT], we went behind it. Last night was the first day of Toronto Alternative Fashion Week (so alternative, it's not even a week, but rather three corset-squeezed nights of runway shows, performance art, live beats and more). While other media types milled about the Distillery District's uber-cool Fermenting Cellar, sipping wine and snapping shots of the......

Heads up on the hands-down coolest things at the Interior Design Show: most of them spring from our own backyard. And literally, too. There is a flourishing trend toward the incorporation of nature in contemporary design—a welcome wandering off from the hard lines and materials often associated with modernism—and local designers are embracing it wholeheartedly. Toronto installation artist Rob Southcott's "United We Stand" (pictured at right) is actually a seat of sorts, a grouping......

Photo by Arieh Singer from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. The hearts-and-kisses holiday isn't just for cute couples and kindergarten kids, no siree—or, uh, madam-ee! After the hop, skip and jump, Torontoist has Valentine's Day (or night) suggestions for every romantic situation.......

If you haven't been to this year's Toronto International Boat Show yet (there must be at least one or two of you), this weekend is your last chance. The array of huge yachts you could never hope to afford and 300-horsepower outboards that guzzle gas faster than you can say "peak oil" doesn't really change all that much from year to year, but there has been one big improvement over previous shows. The indoor......

While the word "nutcracker" might evoke some painful mental images in some, for many it's a familiar part of the holiday season. The original ballet was composed in Russia by one Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892, and The National Ballet of Canada has been performing The Nutcracker since 1964. James Kudelka did a revamp of the choreography in 1995, and since then The National Ballet's Nutcracker has become what The Globe and Mail has......

Before all the fuss over Halo 3 there was the video game greatness of Pong. And before that, there was good ol' fashioned ping pong. Since 2000, The Dedicated Association of Ping Pong Players has been keeping the table tennis dream alive with bi-annual tournaments, the next of which is taking place on Saturday. Up to 500 people are expected to attend the event at the Steam Whistle Brewery ,which will feature drinking and......

If you have ever driven up Yonge Street towards Richmond Hill, you probably couldn't help but notice the Vishnu Mandir Hindu temple and its landmark statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Alongside the temple is the unique Canadian Museum of Hindu Civilization, which is presenting an ambitious Festival of India this weekend. The festival promises to be an authentic expression of Indian culture, with innumerable local artists performaning alongside many that are being imported from the......

If you're looking for something to do tonight, swing by City Hall between 7:30-10 p.m. to check out a free forum titled "Stepping Up The Environmental Agenda in Food, Housing and Lifestyles." Guest speakers include (taken from the official site): FOOD—Mike Schreiner, an award-winning social entrepreneur who has recently joined Local Flavour Plus as Vice President after 10 years as the co-founder of WOW Foods, a Toronto-based home delivery service for organic food that aims......

Daniel Handler! In Toronto! You may know him better as children’s writer Lemony Snicket of A Series of Unfortunate Events fame, but he has written three books for adults not as Snicket's "Handler," but quite wonderfully as himself. He'll be talking to charming local writer Jason McBride (who Torontoist may have seen in The Annex last week--belated hullo, Jason! If you weren’t Jason, greetings to the gent who is passing himself off as Jason quite......

We're sometimes cynical about token gestures calling for world peace, but at least this one looks nice. And kinda like that legendary British Airways commercial. Today at 3 p.m., the Humanist Movement is calling on Torontonians to help assemble a giant human peace sign in Nathan Phillips Square, continuing a tradition started in Budapest and since performed internationally in public spaces. The demonstration is part of an event happening in at least four other......

For filmgoers interested in heavier fare than Because I Said So, the 3rd annual Prison Justice Film Festival begins today at the U of T’s William Doo Auditorium and the Toronto Women’s Bookstore. The festival presents thirteen films, mostly documentaries, about prison and those affected by the prison system. Hosted by the Prisoner’s Justice Action Committee, the films don’t hold back in their gritty portrayals of the prison system in various parts of the world.......

Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann courtesy of the TSO. If you’re turned off at the idea of classical music concerts because they seem like an activity for the high society rich, think again. There are plenty of ways to enjoy Toronto’s healthy classical music scene on the cheap or for free. Toronto Symphony Orchestra In an effort to infuse some young blood into its increasingly grey-haired audience demographic, the TSO offers $12 concert tickets to......

So Torontoist hasn't actually read Ulysses but does that mean we can't celebrate Bloomsday? Of course not. Tomorrow is the real-life anniversary of the fictional day chronicled in Joyce's Ulysses (the book told the story of one day in the life of Leopold Bloom). Events include re-enactments of scenes from Ulysses, readings, and a singalong all along the Beach and various neigbhourhoods on Queen East. The day culminates with an event at the appropriately named......

The Whoof... Joe Cocker Spaniel... Sha-na-nauzer... Santana's Litter Helper... Woofstock is back and bigger than ever! This year's largest outdoor festival for doggie and doggie lovers is changing venues and heading to the St Lawrence Market, closing off Front Street from Scott to Jarvis with Market in between (banking the Flatiron Building.) With over 150 exhibitors, this free (no money) event will sure to elicit a Pavlovian response from dog, dog owner and dog......

There's nothing TOist loves better than a beautiful lady. Even if she isn't really one, biologically speaking. In any case, Nina Arsenault, Toronto's First Tranny of plastic surgery and all things fabulous, managed to catch the eye of well-hung Hep C rocker, Tommy Lee a few nights ago - except he didn't know 'she' was really a 'he'. Tommy, whatever happened to expanding your horizons?......

If, like us, you were too cheap to shell out the requisite amounts of rent money required to see Stewart, Jon work his magic at Massey Hall tonight, be not dismayed! There is much to do for much less money on this weekend of drizzle and fizzle. - Neato Japanese artist Mariko Mori speaks at Ryerson at 7:30pm tonight, as part of the Kodak Lecture Series. - Toronto Animated Image Society presents a screening of......

Graffiti is one of those hot button issues in any large city. For some it's a symbol of urban decay and crime, a sign that a neighbourhood will soon be overrun by gangs, drugs and other unsavoury elements. For many others, it's a vital form of artistic expression for those who are disenfranchised and for whom the traditional gallery and art establishment isn't accessible nor relevant to their day to day experience. This weekend's 10th......

Craig White, Graphic Designer...

If you toil at your job by day and secretly aspire to enthrall the masses with your artistic oeuvres, here's the incentive to create you've been awaiting. Schools Without Borders is seeking artists to display and sell their work as part of a fundraising event to be held June 9th at Artweave Gallery. All forms of visual production welcome.......

Revlon, that little cosmetics company that evolved from a single innovative nail polish formulation into a mass-market powerhouse, complete with oddly non sequitur television commercials and the (sadly) cruelly over-airbrushed Susan Sarandon print campaign, is making a weekend trip to Mississauga seem worthwhile. It’s the company’s enormous Spring Warehouse Sale until Sunday, open to the public with 80% off the already so-cheap retail prices. Torontoist can’t promise transformations into Eva Mendes or Halle, and recommends......